


SOLDIER of Hubris

by sanctum_c



Category: Final Fantasy VII (Video Game 1997)
Genre: Blood and Injury, Deus Ex Machina, Healers, Healing, Hurt, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, Limit Break(s) (Final Fantasy), Magic, Materia (Compilation of FFVII), Missing Scene, Monsters, Multi, One Shot, POV Multiple, Pain, Serious, Serious Injuries, Surgery, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-01
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-14 00:08:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,665
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29784180
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sanctum_c/pseuds/sanctum_c
Summary: Cloud blinked awake; the light was different and his head felt more fuzzy than pained. The agony lessened and his torso felt newly constricted. “-splinted the leg and his bad arm. Bandages and stitching will help with the bleeding.” Aeris broke off and met his gaze. “Welcome back. SOLDIERs heal fast, right?” Cloud tried to respond, the effort sending splintering pains along his jaw. “Sorry. Jaw swollen. Might be broken. Um. How about blink once for yes, twice for no? Can you hear us?”Cloud leaves Midgar feeling indestructible; getting distracted in the field soon belies that.
Relationships: Aerith Gainsborough/Tifa Lockhart/Cloud Strife
Comments: 6
Kudos: 10
Collections: FFVII Secret Spring





	SOLDIER of Hubris

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SephyAthredon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SephyAthredon/gifts).



> Written for the prompt: _Fanfic. Cloud Whump. Cloud ends up getting hurt really bad and no longer has any means to protect Aerith and Tifa (his sword arm gets broken or whatever else you can think of). So now it's up to Aerith and Tifa to get him to safety. Cloud tries to stay strong, and secretly hates that he has to be so vulnerable in front of the others. The setting and everything else are intentionally vague so the writer can decide._

Not far from Midgar – after the dead, blackened wasteland gave way to trash-littered grassy plains – Aeris and Tifa became content to hang back and let Cloud do the fighting. If he spotted a monster he moved to destroy it and would not stop until he succeeded. Hard not to wonder if there was some scope for a pause. Maybe speculate and discuss if the creatures he brutally cleaved in two truly represented a threat.

There was a certain satisfaction and glee in his movements at odds with the notion of how jack of all trades might operate. Not the expected behaviour of a mercenary who travelled the world and fought based on need or behest of a client. Certainly Aeris expected him to avoid the more monster-ridden path, yet he always veered towards them. Almost as if his combat prowess was a novelty the allure had yet to wear off of.

Aeris would never claim expert knowledge of SOLDIER tactics or mercenaries or combat outside of self-defence, but still hard to shake the notion Cloud’s skills had improved with absurd haste.

Tifa unexpectedly concurred with this observation. “Barret said the same thing when they attacked the first reactor. He was way better at fighting on the way out then on the way in.” Ahead Cloud whirled his sword in gleaming arcs, limbs and heads of his monstrous foes severed without a thought or sign of a struggle.

“Didn’t realise Barret was one for sword-fighting,” Aeris said. “Though that is an assumption on my part.”

“Not quite what I meant.” Tifa shook her head. “Just he thought Cloud seemed to be struggling at first. And how he was surprised Cloud’s sword wasn’t completely blunt after. Something about how he fought and how he kept catching the floors and walls with it.”

“Well.” Aeris blinked and smiled. “Is that so surprising? Look at the length of the thing. He and Sephiroth must have the same problem.” She grinned. “Do all SOLDIERs have such long swords?” Tifa stifled a laugh at the response and swatted at Aeris’s arm. But the question, as with the events of recent days, brought up other distant memories. Zack had never carried a sword any time she had known him. What weapon had he favoured?

A pause until Tifa regained composure and elected to not rise – or perhaps descend – to the comment. But despite her best efforts, she hurried her next words. “But he’s not doing it now. Catching things with the blade I mean. And I don’t think it’s because we’re out in the open. He’s not tearing up the grass or anything is he? And he coped just fine inside the Shinra building too.”

As much as the arc of Cloud’s sword dipped close to the straggly grasses, it never came close to the ground. How could he have fought so sloppily before? “He wasn’t struggling or messy in Sector Five either.” Aeris frowned. “Or in the sewers for that matter. Strange. Unless being so close to the Mako in the reactor threw him off balance?”

Tifa shook her head once more. “I was with him in Reactor Five. What I saw of him there didn’t match with what Barret said either, but I didn’t think anything of it at the time. When-.“ She broke off and gestured towards Cloud. Aeris nodded. The details of Avalanche’s operation and how Cloud came to plummet through her ceiling long since explained. “It’s like- I don’t know. He was still getting used to the sword on that first mission?”

“Well. It sort of sounds like it sure. I suppose maybe he only just switched to using it, but surely he’d not just swap over if it was so hard going? I don’t know much about how mercenaries operate I admit and...” She trailed off; Tifa was intently focused on her. “You okay?”

“Yeah.” Tifa sighed, glancing ahead to Cloud once more. “Yeah. I agree, it doesn’t make sense, but-“ Her eyes widened and her face paled. “Cloud!”

* * *

The monster fell with a rasping gurgle as the Buster Sword’s edge opened a ragged wound across its neck. Cloud’s muscles burned with exertion but somehow he did not feel tired, like he could keep on going without needing to stop. He could carry on, keep on fighting like a brigade. He used to tire so quickly whenever he got into fights in Nibelheim. Chasing Sephiroth up the trail to the reactor was so exhausting he wondered how he had mustered the strength to stand before him, ready to fight despite everything hurting and his lungs wheezing.

But no more. Something about his recent arrival in Midgar gave him a zeal and an energy like never before. What was it? Something about the city itself? All the reactors churning and sucking up the Mako? Unlikely.

Seeing Tifa maybe? After so many years and his relief she was still alive after the fire? Possibly, but not like she was the sole focus of his thoughts. Unless she had put some wonder-drug into his drink at Seventh Heaven, she was an unlikely catalyst. After-all, why not give the same wonder-drug to all of Avalanche and prevent the tragedy of Sector Seven?

Aeris perhaps, with her peculiar skills and her heritage. Something she had not admitted to when she healed a ragged gash in his arm after he fell into the church but before she revealed she owned only a single piece of strange, useless Materia. The President’s later reveal of her heritage pointed to a possible explanation. Maybe she was radiating some kind of energy? But again, why only him if so?

Cloud shook his head. Getting distracted into strange fantastical thinking. His strength and stamina remained near unassailable since he helped attack Mako Reactor One and not diminished since. This detail exempted Barret’s presence as a potential cause. Same went for Jessie, Biggs, Wedge, Marlene, Red and the hundreds of Sector Five, Six and Seven denizens he passed. Nothing and no one seemed to offer a plausible explanation.

Did it matter? He was overthinking the situation. Of more importance was using his ability to keep his companions safe as they traversed the wilderness together. Not as if they could not cope without his help; Tifa’s martial arts training made her a formidable combatant. And Aeris was not about to let him forget his tone-deaf estimation of her capabilities. Two thirds of her life spent in the slums had long prepared her and she was remarkably proficient with her staff. None of their human opponents ever viewed her as a threat, much to their cost.

Slight guilt; should they fighting as a group? But he was the leader; the remnants of Avalanche deferred to him, had expectations of him. Clearing the way was his duty, part of his responsibilities. Protect those in his care from any and all harm. The point of his strength. They would tire long before he would.

Cloud glanced behind; the girls still followed, too distant for any of the conversation to reach him. Beyond them nothing was visible in pursuit. Good.

A nearby hiss grew swiftly into a loud growl. Stupid. Got distracted. Have to pay attention to what was in front of him. A furious drill instructor once berated him for this same error. But nothing to worry about; merely another monster to deal with.

The blow came out of nowhere, the air split with a guttural roar. Pain lanced down his sword-arm as he stumbled sideways. Clenching his teeth, he ignored the injury and gripped his sword tighter. A blur of purple slammed against him before he could react and he tumbled head over heels in a confused impression of light and dark, ground and sky. A new succession of pain when he landed heavily on his back. He struggled upright, casting around desperately for the proximity and identity of his attacker.

Heavy footfalls to one side; the massive form of a Behemoth was circling around to charge him again. Another glance to his companions; distant and running forward. Too risky; the last time-

The last time he’d-

When he previously fought a Behemoth-

What? What had he done? Been afraid. Known he could not hope to defeat it, known everyone was too weak to defeat it. But SOLDIERs could fight Behemoths. Tough foes; a struggle for a single Second Class SOLDIER. First Class’s used them for training purposes if they could find them. A decent challenge, a good work-out. And he was a First Class SOLDIER.

Ahead the creature bellowed, lowered its head and charged. Nothing but one more Behemoth. Nothing he could not handle but he would need to stay focused. And as long as he kept his companions safe, nothing else mattered. Cloud raised his sword and rushed at the approaching monster.

* * *

“He looks okay.” Aeris was panting as they ran, still too far away from Cloud and the hulking shape circling back to charge at him. “He’s ready for it this time.”

“Hope so,” Tifa called over her shoulder. Cloud was a SOLDIER; of this there was little doubt. His eyes proved it. But could a SOLDIER face down a Behemoth solo? Too far to see if Cloud was bleeding or badly injured from the first collision. At least he could still stand.

The Behemoth lumbered towards him; she and Aeris ran too slow, impossibleto reach him in time. Tifa ran faster. Cloud stood his ground and pulled his arm back to swing his sword.

His timing was wrong; his attack came too late and the Behemoth slammed into him. Cloud jerked up into the air, impaled on one of the creature’s horns. The Behemoth’s movements became erratic, head lashing from side to side. Cloud struggled against the injury or was his limp body flung by the monster’s head movements?

She was nearly to him. Martial arts might have human combatants in mind, but Zangan never shied away from the application of his teachings to monstrous opponents. Vital on the hostile terrain of Mount Nibel. Tifa had fortunately never had a need to engage something as huge as a dragon or anything close to the scale of a Behemoth, but this was no time to shrink back from such an opponent.

Ahead the monster rushed forward, carried by momentum. It roared, its legs scrabbled at the ground and with a strange dip, vanished. “Where is it?” Aeris called from behind her. Tifa hurried on; not much further to where Cloud disappeared. Ahead a rise in the ground hid a cliff concealed in the rolling grasslands; ragged claw marks had churned up the mud and grass where the Behemoth had tried to stop to no avail.

The monster had gone over the cliff.

“Is Cloud okay?” Aeris caught up and leant over, hands on her knees as she caught her breath.

“I don’t know.” Tifa’s voice did not tremble, but a sickening feeling of panic was growing stronger and stronger. No sign of Cloud along the path of the deep gouges the Behemoth left in its wake. A uncomfortable possibility occurred. She ventured closer to the edge of the cliff. The drop was higher than she expected and far below the Behemoth lay sprawled and still; hopefully dead. One of its horns had torn off along the way, its front legs twisted unnaturally beneath it. Tifa crouched, staring down. Almost hidden by the Behemoth’s body was an unnatural, straight section of bright, gleaming metal. “I think Cloud might be down there.” Tifa pointed; Aeris shuffled closer and peered down.

“I think you’re right. We have to get down there.” Aeris was still breathing hard but refused Tifa’s offer of a break. Checking on Cloud could not wait. “Somehow.”

Getting down took an agonisingly long time; the cliff had few obvious foot or handholds; for Tifa to try to descend directly was foolhardy. Together they followed the line of the cliff further than comfortable until it sloped down to meet the plains below them. Aeris was quiet as they hurried; Tifa too focused on finding their way to make conversation. Each step took them further from the scene of the accident. Hard not to worry about how much worse the delays would make the situation.

Reaching the Behemoth’s corpse mercifully confirmed the creature was dead; the monster lay still. Not the concern; was Cloud okay? Aeris rushed to the Behemoth’s side; Cloud’s hand lay limp beside the Buster Sword’s hilt, both pinned under the monster in a pool of blood. His or the Behemoth’s? Impossible to tell. Aeris pressed her fingers to Cloud’s wrist. “He’s still alive.”

* * *

Dark. Pain. Agony. A too warm, coarse mass lay across him, slowly choking the life out of him. He tried to push it away and regretted the attempt intensely. His right arm burned with pain and his left hurt but would not move. Trying to catch his breath sparked a hideous deep pain so intense his eyes watered and a choking sob escaped his mouth, the movements provoking a splintering pain in his jaw. He desperately tried to suck in panicked breaths, each accompanied by a new burst of pain.

He tried to calm. SOLDIERs did not succumb to pain and injury easily; but had he ever been so injured before? His knees once suffered the worst pain in the world when he hurt them at Nibelheim, but somehow he could not think of how. And the other time; when he hurt his shoulder though oddly suffered no lasting damage. How long did it take to heal after? Proof he would heal like he should; but the certainty did little good now everything was agony and the air was stale.

Bright spots of light lay distantly out of the corner of his eyes, the weight above prevented him moving his head. The monster. The Behemoth; somehow it had fallen on top of him. Left him helpless but did at least mean no further danger to Aeris and Tifa. His stomach lurched. He had saved them but at what cost? Now he was unable to take care of them or protect them from any other monsters. He had to get out from under the collapsed monster. Had to do his duty.

Cloud let out a yelp of pain, the sound directed into the coarsely-furred flank of the Behemoth when something touched his wrist. Muffled voices nearby, the words too quiet to make out, but a relief to know someone was here. If they could get the corpse off him, everything would be okay.

A complete fantasy; reality was less pleasant.

Removing the corpse took a life-age, the throb of agony across his body never abating. Unclear how they shifted the Behemoth’s body in the end, but any release as the corpse rolled away did not come. Instead, he discovered fresh agonies; a too cold wind chilling him further, the pain in his chest newly sharpened. He tried to sit up, and failed, unable to push through the ratcheting pain.

“Lie still.” Aeris urged from somewhere past the moon. Something cool pressed against his forehead; miraculously seemingly one of the only parts of his body not hurt. She murmured something to Tifa who replied, the words far too distant. Concern, pity, distress. All wrong, this was all so wrong; out in the wilderness too focused on him and not paying any attention to what was around them. The role he should play and had so shockingly failed at so readily.

A burst of green light spread out and washed over him; Aeris moved out of his sight-line and fresh pain blossomed in his chest. Cloud blinked; she was holding a jagged black horn. A Behemoth’s horn? Where had it come from? She paid it little mind and dropped it to one side. Had the Behemoth-

Aeris pressed down on his chest, the motion causing more pain. “Please Just bear with it.” She fumbled a materia with a bloodied hand and another wave of green light spread from it. The pain diminished by a fraction. Cloud craned his neck to confirm the worst, the state of the wound the horn came from but Aeris pressed her hand to his forehead again. “Don’t look.” She said something strange after, but nothing he could hear. Her lips moved, but formed unrecognisable words, gibberish. Her palm warmed and a strange heat rushed through his whole body, the pain diminishing further but not fading completely.

The dream was to get stronger; attaining a place in SOLDIER, ascending to First Class was the means. A means at odds with lying here, weak and injured and damaged and bleeding. He needed to look out for risks and enemies. But he was on his back, pinned in place by nothing more than Aeris’s slender hand, weighing down on him as heavily as the Behemoth’s corpse had.

“Okay. This next part isn’t going to be any more pleasant. So; see you soon.” Aeris hefted another green materia; it pulsed with light and Cloud’s head swam, his eyelids drooping. He blinked, long and slow, the effort to open his eyes beyond his capability.

* * *

Cloud blinked awake; the light was different and his head felt more fuzzy than pained. The agony lessened and his torso felt newly constricted. “-splinted the leg and his bad arm. Bandages and stitching will help with the bleeding.” Aeris broke off and met his gaze. “Welcome back. SOLDIERs heal fast, right?” Cloud tried to respond, the effort sending splintering pains along his jaw. “Sorry. Jaw swollen. Might be broken. Um. How about blink once for yes, twice for no? Can you hear us?”

This movement hurt too, skin pulling at some unseen cuts or bruises. But he managed to blink. Tifa sagged in relief; he blinked again. “There should be a doctor in Kalm.” Cloud blinked twice. “There isn’t?” She frowned. “But how can-“ She cut off as he double blinked again. “Wait. Do you not want to go to the doctor?” A single blink. “But. Wait, can you really heal up from this?”

“He survived the fall from the Upper plate. I don’t know how much the roof or flowers contributed to cushioning his fall, but he wasn’t down for long.” Or had Aeris whispered her words and used her warm hands to speed him along before he came to? “But it has to be pretty fast.” Aeris met his gaze. “How long are you going to need for this injury? Blink for, I don’t know; how many hours it’ll take you to recover fully?”

The answer was missing. The healing factor was one of the great perks of SOLDIER; Shinra loved to boast about it on recruitment adverts. An enemy might injure a SOLDIER, might think they had cut them down, but SOLDIERs exemplified strength and resilience. Scratches and wounds would not faze them; a SOLDIER would get right back into the fighting. The effect certainly had its limitations and today he had far surpassed it seemingly. But the range of the recovery? What was it? Desperately he blinked twice.

“Two hours?” Aeris smiled, tension evaporating from her posture. “Quite amazing.” He blinked twice more. “Wait, no?” A single blink. “Are you trying to say you don’t know?” She frowned.

Cloud blinked.

“Guess we get to learn together.” Aeris sat back on her haunches. “I don’t want to risk moving him, but I don’t want to leave him here alone or any one of us with him.” She stood and stretched her back. “No choice then. We’ve got to carry him between us. Unless somehow Barret and Red run across us or wonder where we’ve gotten to and come back to check on us.”

“Don’t like relying on those odds.” Tifa met his gaze; nothing he could do but stare back.

“Me either. So we need to get him to Kalm as soon as we can. Hopefully his SOLDIERness will help fix things up, but ideally he needs some-place clean. And warm.” Correct plan, but this situation was all wrong, pure and simple. How could he lie here and allow the flower girl and his childhood friend to save him? What point was there in becoming a SOLDIER if he wound up like this and was the one who needed saving?

Trying to speak still resulted in nothing but more, different pain. He resorted to blinking frantically and hoping one of them noticed. They did not, more concerned with getting moving. Aeris used their curative materia on him again – and after handing Tifa two of her staves to make a litter, Aeris murmured her strange words over him. Both the magic and words helped but neither enough to let him walk again. “Sorry, but we can’t move you and your sword together so we are going to have to leave it here. We are-“ She glanced to Tifa who nodded. “-sure we have this location noted down so we can come back for it later.”

The revelation frustrated but nothing he could do to protest or change their minds. Another complication and another frustration. All his fault. Should have known better. Followed his training better. Not acted like the Shinra grunts who dropped around him at the slightest problem when they got into combat. For whom any wound was likely fatal. Or the ones who seemed too weak in the first place. Like the one grunt at Nibelheim who got motion sick; the one he’d lost track of when the fire started. “Cloud?” Tifa crouched beside him. “This is probably going to hurt but we don’t have much of an option.” She pried open his mouth and forced something tough between his teeth, renewed splintery pain rushing through his jaw. He fought back a fresh cry of pain.

“Ready?”

Tifa nodded. A new wave of green light washed across him and hands clutched at his arms. Cloud could not prevent the scream of pain erupting from his throat, his teeth biting down hard. “Nearly there.” The hands pulled away and the sting of the pain wavered. Aeris shot another dose of cure over him and the pain faded to merely awful instead of unbearable. Oh, for more of her strange words and the ensuing comforting heat, but she made no attempt to invoke them and instead moved away. “You did great.” Tifa fumbled and extracted the object from his mouth; the strap of her suspender. She peered close at it, grimaced and held it out to Aeris.

“Oh wow.” He had near clean bitten through the rubbery material. Aeris grinned. “Remind me not to feed you anything when you’re cured.” Her smile faded. “Okay. We have a long way to go and going to hope we don’t run into anything too nasty.” Aeris vanished out of his eyeline and Tifa crouched beside his head. “On three.”

Disconcerting to rise into the air, fabric across his back making clear how much damage the fall had inflicted there. A few grunts of effort came from both his companions. “You are way heavier than compost bags.” Aeris panted, glancing back over her shoulder, keeping tight hold of her end of the litter.

“Muscle mass I guess?” Tifa was also straining but breathing easier.

“I guess.” She shifted her shoulders – an attempt to shrug maybe?

They moved, the landscape only visible out of the corner of Cloud’s eye, nothing above except the movements of lower clouds across an overcast sky and some distant monsters flitting too high up to notice them. Tifa glanced down to him at irregular intervals to offer assurance and encouragement. Ahead Aeris shuffled forwards, shifting her grip with every other step. She never let the conversation die or the three of them to fall silent. She told Tifa about the church garden, details somehow not meshing entirely with how Cloud remembered the interior. She talked about selling flowers and the other part-time jobs she undertook. About her neighbours. Her fake name on the not entirely legitimate travel pass she used to take the train to the Upper plate. She lead Tifa in a song from her youth; afterwards Tifa responded in kind with a call and response song from back home. So long since Cloud heard the other kids sing the same lyrics as they marched around the village.

Cloud knew the tune and all the words but never had the opportunity to join in before. He hummed along to Aeris and Tifa’s amusement.

Slow going on the trek. Aeris’s hands shook each time they rested; she flopped onto her back each time, hugged her arms to her chest and muttered something. Despite her assertion she was fine, Aeris became increasingly flushed and sweaty. Tifa was breathing hard too and increasingly eager for breaks. And still he could not move his arms or legs. Could not gulp without more pain.

He was no good to them, and causing them more pain thanks to his actions. They should leave him and get help or to safety. Not suffer for his benefit like this. No monster attack so far, but only a matter of time, and Kalm was somewhere far ahead. How long had it taken him the last time when he came back to Midgar? Few routes to the capital outside of direct Shinra transports and he would not have made use of them. He had definitely walked there. The trail should have taken him near Kalm, unless he decided to rush and go cross-country.

Cloud’s head swam. He could not remember. A side-effect of some infection from his injuries? Were Behemoth horns poisonous? Might explain his confusion. But whatever was wrong was getting worse; he could not remember how long it had taken to walk to the city – though years felt plausible. Could not remember why he ever considered coming back to Midgar. Could not remember the last time he passed Kalm. The pain or an infection or both was stealing his memories.

The sky was growing dim when the monster roared. Aeris flinched, grip tightening on the litter. Cloud’s heart skipped a beat. All too familiar, the sound now etched into his memory. The reason he was absolutely dependent on the other two to get him to safety. Another Behemoth was nearby. Aeris and Tifa made hasty calculations; they could not hope to outrun such a foe. Best to stand and try to fight. They lowered Cloud to the ground and Aeris retrieved a staff.

And he remained helpless. Not able to comment on their terrible idea. They needed to run and get clear. If he could not cope with a Behemoth, how could they?

Both ignored his blinking and tensed ready for the approaching monster.

Not far; the ground beneath him trembled. Close now.

He tried to move again, his body already trembling at the memory of the previous pain. Perhaps he had healed enough to cope or could now push through it. If he could only stand, he could somehow get back to his sword and keep them safe. If they used all their curative magic on him, he might cope enough to run back there. Or they could run now, split the creature’s attention, hope he could distract it and avoid any further injury. He blinked at them, but still neither spared him a glance.

Tifa moved first, sprinting away from him, the sensation of her footfalls overwhelmed in an instant by the thunder of the Behemoth’s approach.

Aeris darted forward and out of his sight.

And he could do nothing. See nothing but distant movements to one side of him as the Behemoth roared.

The flash of light and a sharp crack made him jump and groan with pain. A burst of ozone nearby. Was an electrical attack sufficient to defeat a Behemoth? Hardly; the monster roared in fury. More spells; the air cooled, frost crystals forming over Cloud’s uniform. The crack of breaking ice little to diminish the monster’s anger and the burst of heat and light following provoked more of a shocked reaction from Tifa than apparent damage.

The monster was indefatigable. Aeris and Tifa must have started exhausted and now been pushed close to their limits; the Behemoth roared and thundered, no hitch to its footfalls and movements. How much longer could they continue?

Not long enough; Aeris let out a piercing shriek. Cloud’s body tensed with panic, every injury newly inflamed. A blur of pink shot across his field of vision and an agonised cry of pain followed as Aeris crashed into the ground somewhere past him. The Behemoth roared; only one opponent to deal with now. “Aeris?” Tifa called between panted, panicked breaths. “Aeris?”

No response.

Out here in the wilderness, they would die because of him. He’d saved from Aeris from Shinra twice only to let a Behemoth prey on her as soon as she set foot outside the city. Reunited with Tifa only to allow a monster to crush her. Gained strength and power and all his abilities but been unable to do anything, felled by his own lack of foresight and attention. Him incapacitated; Aeris injured, unconscious or dead; Tifa could not hope to last much longer. And once she fell; would the Behemoth continue attacking or lose interest and leave them vulnerable to the elements?

Cloud’s eyes watered again. Was there no way out? Any vain hope Barret or Red find them by chance? Or a trade caravan, a random passer-by, anyone? Shinra. If Shinra could intervene now, he would thank them. Escaping after was a more palatable problem. He shut his eyes. All his fault.

“Now you’ve done it.” Cloud blinked furiously. Aeris’s voice came from nearby, steady and angry. Something shone brightly, the glow rapidly intensifying. “Couldn’t just leave us alone, could you?” Cloud closed his eyes tight, light too intense. Tifa gasped, and the Behemoth let out a new and furious roar.

The world went white, a piercing brilliance visible through his eyelids. The air warmed, the wind rushing around him, across him, enveloping him in the softest of embraces; the sweetest tasting air he ever experienced without a hint of Mako in it. Something thudded into the ground and the light faded. Cloud opened his eyes.

A furious, earth-shattering crack accompanied a new flash of light, forcing Cloud to close his eyes again, the deafening roll of thunder echoing in his head, ozone flooding the air. The Behemoth screeched. A succession of further bursts of light came, each accompanied with air-splitting cracks. Before the last echoing rumble faded, something leapt across him too quick to catch a glimpse of. The Behemoth roared again, but something was different. Quieter now, its roars less furious.

A tattoo of dull metallic rings rose in the aftermath of the thunder. The Behemoth responded to each ring with a renewed snarl of rage. Curiously familiar; like the sound of Aeris bringing her staff down on a monster as they crossed Sector Six over and over again.

The Behemoth roared and Aeris clicked her tongue. A brighter spark than before near blinded him, forcing his eyes closed once more and a warm wind blasted across him. The thunder rumbled and faded into silence. The world was quiet and the pain was gone.

Cloud opened his eyes and lay still, not wanting to tempt fate. He moved his jaw. Nothing. Raised his arm. His limbs moved with the slightest hesitation or pain. He could bend his neck. Blood matted his uniform, bloodied bandages visible in between ragged rents. He was almost wearing nothing but rags. Without a groan he did not feel, he sat up. “Oh, very nice. Lot of fringe benefits to that it seems.” Aeris smiled at him. Behind her, the dead form of a Behemoth lay scorched and blackened. Aeris held her staff casually at her side, no tremors in her arms and not a trace of exhaustion on her face.

“That was... What was that?” Tifa clambered to her feet breathing hard. Aeris was not winded.

“Desperation I think.” She frowned. “Not a trick I could like to bet on being able to do on command. But-“ She nodded at Cloud. “Fixed him up just fine.”

Tifa gaped. “Cloud, you’re okay?”

“Yeah.” He smiled and scratched at his head, no trace of pain anywhere. “I’m not sure what you did, but thank you.” So good to talk again. “Um. Can I ask? The light. The healing. What was that?”

Aeris shrugged. “Your guess is as good as mine.” Her gaze flicked to the fallen monster. Did her strange words before connect to the light somehow? “Like I said, not wanting to claim I have any idea how I did it.” She glanced to the sky; her dress shifted revealing a succession of tears in the fabric but somehow no blood. “Hey! Buy me dinner first.” She glared at him; Cloud flushed, ducked his head and lay back. “Anyway,” she said with emphasis. “It’s getting late and we still need to get to Kalm. So, let’s not hang around here.” She and Tifa wandered over to him and both helped him to his feet.

Now was not the time to take a risk on doing his flipping onto his feet trick. Everything seemed healed, but he was in no mood to push his luck any further today. The Buster Sword was back the way they came. Better to get it now or risk leaving it?

“You want to get your sword?” Tifa asked behind him as he gazed back the way they came.

He almost said yes. Almost gave into the impulse, the need to keep it with him. But to go back would ignore any lessons the incident should have taught him. “No.” Night was close to falling; better to push on to Kalm, to safety and somewhere to rest. Better to make sure they reached safety. “No. It can wait. Let’s meet up with the others.” The sword should wait until morning. He would get it before they continued their pursuit of Sephiroth.


End file.
